Friday, October 26, 2012

Feed me your protein and fitting it in.

Trying to fit these extra miles into my busy schedule feels a little like me getting into my high school jeans...I can do it, but it feels like I really shouldn't.
I know I shouldn't complain, since I have no kids to worry about, but I work between 45 and 50 hours a week and have a very inflexible schedule, so it still feels tough. Four days a week I'm at work 9 to 6; Sundays I have church; Wednesdays my schedule is dictated by meetings and conference calls, and I have obligations on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. So it's actually not that easy to fit extra running in.
I realized Wednesday night that I had 14 miles on the schedule for the next morning. That's a lot to fit in and still make it to work at 9:00 am. The first step to fitting it in was to shorten it, duh. That approach won't hurt my fitness at all. But I reasoned if I cut it to 13 miles I could get up at 5:45, leave at 6:15, and still easily complete 13 by 8 am. That mostly worked. I ended up snoozing the alarm once (9 minutes - we have the world's longest snooze on our alarm) and getting out of the house a little late, but I still made it back before 8 am. But so did David, and he had the shower, so that was a set back...by the time I rehydrated (please, please, please God, take the humidity away!!!), packed a lunch, showered, dressed, and put on just enough make up for it to look like I hadn't given up entirely, it was 8:33 and I had to GO. Notice anything missing? Yes, it's my breakfast. Luckily I packed a very substantial lunch, which in fact should not be called a lunch at all since it includes copious snackage as well, but I still came home starving.

I had a delicious dinner planned - chick pea and vegetable curry on brown rice. But I wanted nothing to do with it. I just wanted a big piece of protein, and the idea of vegetarian fare was nowhere near as appealing as a hamburger. However, I stuck to the menu since we're going out of town and all my produce needs to get eaten. It was a good dinner, but it didn't hit the spot. I sat around all night considering making a pork chop, but luckily snack mix came to the rescue. Lots of protein, and the chocolate isn't half bad, either.

One way to fit all my running in and still get breakfast would be to get up earlier. Somehow, this just isn't happening. I normally get up at 6:00, only setting my alarm earlier if I have over 10 miles to run. It takes me so long to wake up when I'm tired that getting up early doesn't always work for me. I might set my alarm for 5:30 but still be groggy by 6:30. Part of the problem is my bedtime: I am supposed to go to bed by ten, but I usually end up in bed at eleven instead, and even then I spend about a half hour reading. I do know I really need to start getting some sleep, though, so this has to change!

I'll leave you with a quick crazy pharmacy story from yesterday. I have a customer who insists that "her stalker" - no one she knows, just a stalker she assumes she has - sneaks into her house, opens all her capsules, fills them with poison, then sneaks back out. She told me that she knows this phantom stalker has keys to her house since he locks up after he leaves. This woman routinely discards perfectly good medication because she believes it is tampered with and buys a whole new bottle. The best part of this story is that this crazy lady is a manager at the hospital. She is all kinds of cuckoo and is in charge of a rather large department. Hilarious.

It's so easy to bail on a planned early morning run, even when you do get plenty of sleep! I am also busy with a demanding job, so I don't have as much time as I want to run. So I try to make up for running fewer miles by having super strong legs. I do squats, dead lifts, hardcore legs workout every week. I think it helps. :)Kristen

Get a treadmill. I know you hate them, but you can literally run at ANY time. 4 am...11 pm - whenever. I like to watch a good action/scyfi/spy flick while I run on my treadmill. It makes a world of difference.As for food hitting the spot..fast food junk. I know horrible - but it hits all the spots every time.There are so many weird ppl in the world - your post reminded me that I need to pick up my perscription this afternoon. ;-)

Being a stay at home mom makes it tough to fit miles in, but I think working full time makes it equally hard. I finally had to suck it up and get up at 4:30am if I wasa going to get a run in - which meant early to bed, so it was tough on both ends! And then, there is the breakfast! I've got to get everyone fed, and that is a fiasco sometimes because I am starving and the last one to eat. But, once I got into the routine of it, I loved it. It is tough to run that early though!! Good luck figuring out what workd for you. And that is a scary/crazy story about that woman! And to think she's in charge of other people!! Frightening:)

Haha! A stalker who puts poison in her capsules!? That's crazy! I usually make a batch of oatmeal on Sunday and portion it out, then during the week I just grab one, put some milk on it and throw it in the microwave while I am brushing my hair. If that doesn't work for you, I know you said you took snacks to work -- could you take breakfast? Or more snacks? I usually take about 5 pieces of fruit, as well as some veggies, gorp and sometimes even an additional salad! I am always hungry though.

Good for you for working out getting your extra miles! So many people would just say forget it...13 miles is better than no miles. So funny and SCARY about hospital manager coo coo lady! Hope she doesn't have access to anyone else's meds...what if it's a split personality situation?! ;)

About Me

My name is Grace and my life is needlessly complicated. Things happen to me that just don't happen to other shiny happy people. At least there's never a dull moment in my life!
I live in New Orleans in an old house that creates dirt with my darling husband and a few dead plants. I'm a pharmacist, he's a lawyer. Somehow we're still broke (but Sallie Mae is rich. Hmmm.). I have way too much going on in my life, including: church and Bible study, clothing design/sewing, art of various types, teaching (test prep), jewelry making, running (check out my races page for more info), the occasional intellectual endeavor (research, writing), and cooking. Oh and I work, too, of course. I'm a retail pharmacist heading up the HIV division in our region.
It might seem like this blog is just my complaints...or my races. But it's not. Someday I WILL post something useful, I promise! I hope to share the more interesting aspects of my life and a few tips, tricks, and hints that have saved me a $ or a minute. Perhaps you'll find something you like. I certainly hope so!